Brad Strawbridge on Trust, Reputation, and Why He Fired Every Marketing Agency

Brad Strawbridge grew Capital City Roofing from zero to $3 million in his first year and is on track to hit $10 million in year two. Those numbers alone would make him worth paying attention to, but the numbers are not why I am writing this article.

I am writing this because Brad is one of the most genuinely good people I have met in the home services industry. He is a winner, a giver, and someone who believes that reputation is everything. Not reputation as a marketing tactic, but reputation as a way of life.

When Brad recently posted on Facebook about firing every marketing agency he had ever hired, contractors across the country felt it in their bones. And when he called me out by name as someone who “gets it,” I knew I had to honor that trust by telling his story properly.

From the pulpit to the rooftop

Brad’s path to roofing was anything but conventional. Before he ever climbed a ladder, he was a pastor leading communities, a regional manager at FPL overseeing $50 million P&L operations with 150 to 200 employees, and a leader who understood that people follow character, not credentials.

When I sat down with Brad on the Coach Yu Show, he told me something that stuck: he wished more people would ask him where he finds the energy to run at the speed and frequency he maintains. His answer had nothing to do with productivity hacks. It was about finding something bigger than yourself, surrounding yourself with good people, and building something that lasts. He even said that the best time to think about your funeral is today, not in a morbid way, but to create urgency around the legacy you are building right now.

That is the kind of man Brad Strawbridge is. He does not think quarter to quarter. He thinks generationally.

Watch the full conversation

In this nearly 40-minute conversation, Brad and I cover everything from AI and SEO to legacy, faith, and what it really means to build something that lasts.

He fired every agency. Then he built something better.

Brad’s Facebook post about his experience with marketing agencies struck a nerve with contractors everywhere. He described a pattern that every home service business owner recognizes: big promises on the sales call, fancy pitch decks, guaranteed results, then months of excuses, recycled strategies, and invoices for work that could not be verified.

He did not fire one agency. He fired all of them.

And then he made a decision that changed everything for Capital City Roofing. He brought marketing in-house, started learning digital marketing himself by watching YouTube tutorials and running ChatGPT audits on his own website, and began using AI to do what those agencies never could: move fast, stay accountable, and actually produce results.

As Brad wrote, that was not an anti-agency move, it was a survival move. And it changed everything for his business.

Brad also posted publicly, calling BlitzMetrics out by name: “My friend Dennis Yu at BlitzMetrics gets it. He is one of the few people in digital marketing who will tell you the truth about what most agencies are actually delivering.”

In another post, Brad wrote something even more direct: “If you’re looking for a marketing-SEO-AI expert, Dennis Yu is the real deal. And if you really know me, you also know how critical I am on marketing and technology services. So when I recommend someone, that is saying something.”

That kind of endorsement from someone as discerning as Brad means the world. He is not a person who throws around praise casually.

Winners, givers, and the good guys

During our podcast conversation, Brad talked about how he intentionally seeks out people he calls “the good guys.” He does not reach out to pitch or sell. He reaches out to make a genuine connection.

Brad described the kind of people he wants to align with: winners who are also givers, people who are transparent, who take care of the customer, who believe in being fair and reputable. Not people trying to take money or do a quick exit and flip the thing. People who understand that reputation matters more than revenue in the long run.

He told me that he will find out who the good guys are and reach out intentionally. He might frame it as asking someone to pitch him on what they have, but really he just wants to meet the person and make a connection.

That philosophy did not come from a business book. Brad ran communities before he ran a roofing company. He understands that trust is built through relationships, not transactions. And he brings that same pastoral instinct for genuine human connection into every business relationship he forms.

What the AI cannot do

One of the most important things Brad said on the podcast was simple but profound. AI can help you with marketing, with operations, with answering phone calls. But there is one thing the AI cannot do: build relationships.

That is the real secret behind Capital City Roofing’s growth. Brad is not winning because he has better technology than other roofers. He is winning because he combines the technology with genuine human connection. He goes to NRCA events, speaks at conferences, builds relationships with other contractors, and shows up for his community through his nonprofit, Feeding the Future.

When I audited Capital City Roofing’s digital presence, the Google Business Profile had 4.9 stars with nearly 150 reviews. Those reviews were not bought or incentivized through gimmicks. They came from homeowners who had genuinely good experiences with Brad’s team.

As Brad put it on the podcast, you are a contractor, you understand naturally that community and reputation matter. It is not just about getting more Google reviews. It is about establishing reputation so that when your vans are driving around the neighborhood, people know who you are.

Surrounding himself with the right people

Brad’s approach to business mirrors how he approaches every relationship. He told me about the importance of being audaciously confident in yourself and whatever your calling is, especially when it is something bigger than yourself. He admitted to being an introvert at heart who would rather read a book and work on his computer, but he recognized that staying in that comfort zone would not move the needle.

That is why he has connected with people like George Paladichuk at NaiL AI, who is solving the missed-call problem that costs home service companies thousands in lost leads every month. When I flew out to Atlanta with George to see Brad in action, I watched them collaborating in real time on how voice AI should work for contractors, including the nuances of whether the AI should disclose that it is not a human. I was watching two people who care deeply about getting this right for the industry, not just shipping a product.

It is why he has built a relationship with Lance Bachmann, one of the most respected names in roofing, who publicly said he was frustrated with marketing agencies until Brad helped solve it on the spot. Brad even spoke at Lance’s conference, remarkable for someone who never came up through traditional roofing channels.

It is also why he aligns with people like Tommy Mello of A1 Garage Door Service, who shares the same philosophy of building real businesses through real relationships and systematized operations. Tommy and I have worked together on scaling home service businesses, and Brad fits naturally into that circle of people who believe in doing things the right way.

And it is why we work with people like Chuck Thokey Peter, who runs outbound call centers for the roofing industry and understands that every missed opportunity is a missed connection with a homeowner who needs help.

The network Brad has surrounded himself with are all aligned on the same values: serve the customer, be transparent, build something that lasts.

The energy to run at this speed

Near the end of our podcast conversation, I asked Brad what he wishes people would ask him. His answer was revealing. He said he wishes people would ask how he finds the energy to run at the speed he runs at, at the frequency and high capacity he maintains.

His answer was not about productivity hacks or time management. Brad talked about finding something bigger than yourself, doing the work, surrounding yourself with good people who can help everyone get there together, and building a lasting impact. He talked about thinking about your legacy not as something for when you are old, but as something you start building today.

That mindset is rare. Most contractors are focused on the next job, the next invoice, the next quarter. Brad is focused on the next generation. He is building Capital City Roofing to be something his children can inherit, something the community can rely on, something that outlasts any individual.

What this means for home service businesses

Brad’s story is a case study in what happens when you combine the right values with the right tools. The AI and the technology matter. Fixing site speed, building location service pages, optimizing the Google Business Profile, all of that is real work that produces real results.

But the reason Brad is scaling to $10 million while other roofers with the same tools are stagnating is not the technology. It is the trust.

It is the fact that when Brad walks into a room, people know he is there to give, not to take. It is the community he has built around Feeding the Future, the relationships he has forged at NRCA, and the way he treats every homeowner like a neighbor instead of a transaction.

If you are a contractor reading this and you have been burned by agencies, I hear you. Brad has been there. The answer is not to hate agencies. It is to take ownership of your marketing, use AI as a teammate rather than a replacement, and invest your energy in the one thing that no technology can replicate: genuine human relationships.

Our approach at BlitzMetrics is to help people like Brad document and amplify what is already working. We repurpose real conversations, real relationships, and real results into content that drives SEO and builds authority through our Content Factory process. We are not generating content from thin air. We are capturing what is already true and making sure the right people see it.

Brad Strawbridge is the kind of person this industry needs more of. I am honored to call him a friend, and I am excited to watch what he builds next.